Granola, Infinitely Adaptable

Don’t tell me you’ve been buying packaged granola like a fool. Yeah, I used to as well.

Suffering through raisins you don’t like. Picking out individual banana chips because you once cracked a tooth on one and haven’t learned to trust them again (hi, Mum). Enduring big chunks of Brazil nut and thinking, really, why are they so disproportionately large compared to all the other bits in the bowl?

Granola is ridiculously easy to make at home. It’s inexpensive. And best of all, you get to decide what goes in it and what doesn’t. To stress this point and to give me an excuse to eat multiple bowls for days, I’ve made three different batches and thought up a whole load of others to experiment with.

It’s totally up to you. Reclaim your right to complete control over your breakfast.

So here's the deal.

We do this with ratios and cups. We could weigh but... nah.

This is our rule of thumb:

• 3 cups of oats
• 1 cup of sweeteners and binders
• 1-2 cups of add-ins

And scale this up or down according to hunger levels and amount of ingredients to hand.

And if you like some of my ideas but not certain ingredients, substitute them out. I think it may well be impossible to make bad granola.

I'll talk through three different kinds - with handy photos!, equip you with inspiration and a hefty list of potential ingredients, and then you're on your own.

Up first: Tropical!

3 cups of traditional rolled oats. Not steel-cut, they take too long to cook. And not instant, because they'll turn to mush. Plus our sweetener (2/3 cup of honey), our 'binder' (so the oats clump together and go all crunchy, like) - 1/3 olive oil, and spices. Ginger and cinnamon. A decent dose of my favourite dessicated coconut (1/2 cup), some slivered almonds (okay, not particularly tropical but I'd no Brazil nuts), and about 1/2 cup of dried fruit. Plus a pinch of salt.

We mix the oats with the coconut, salt, spices and almonds. Not the dried fruit because that won't bake well, we'll stir that through at the end.

Quickly heat the wet ingredients (olive oil and honey) in a small saucepan to make them runnier and pour all over our mix.

Stir together, inadvertently doing some product placement for Jamie Oliver's Tefal range.

Spread onto a baking tray and into the oven for 20 minutes. When it comes out, add the dried tropical fruit and also some sneaky golden raisins I forgot to mention earlier. And maybe an extra tablespoon of coconut, just for luck.

And you're done!

Next up: Mocha. That’s right – coffee in your mug and in your bowl.

Look at that espresso powder. I conservatively only added one teaspoon of it, but if you're really not a morning person and need the additional kick of caffeine, crank it up.

In stages not photographed here, I added the nuts and mixed it all about. I heated and poured by honey - maple syrup - olive oil mix all over it and baked, before taking it out and adding cranberry jewels and coarsely chopped milk chocolate. You can wait until it cools to add the chocolate OR you can add it in now and let the smaller parts melt into the oats.

Finally: a delicious mash-up of all the tastiest ingredients I could think of. This is a 'cherry - maple - pistachio - dark chocolate - pecan - coconut' granola.

And I'm enjoying it in a bowl with a talking caribou on it.

& Lola is enjoying it from my hand...

Here are combinations I dreamt of but didn't actually make. You're welcome to do the experimental groundwork for me:

• PB&J: Peanut Butter – Banana – Berries – Cinnamon
• Christmas: Crystallized ginger – Orange zest – Brazil nuts – Raisins/currants – and 2 tablespoons of gingerbread spice mix
• Black forest: Chocolate chunks – Cherries – Almonds – Cocoa powder
• Chai: Chai spice mix (1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, 1/2 tsp ground cardamom, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg) - crystallized ginger - berries - sunflower seeds
• White chocolate – cherry – Pistachio - Pecan
• Dark chocolate – coconut – macadamia nuts – raspberries

Click through for actual recipes pleeeeease.

Tropical Granola

Preparation: 25 minutes (5 minutes prep, 20 minutes baking)

Yield: 5-6 cups

Ingredients

• 4 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sweetened dessicated coconut + 1 tablespoon to top afterwards
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
• 2/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup dried tropical fruit (I went for a mix of mango, banana and pineapple)
• 1/4 c golden raisins

Method

• Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F)
• In a large bowl, mix oats, ginger, cinnamon, salt, coconut and almonds. Heat honey and olive oil until warmed and runny, then pour over dry mix and stir to combine. Spread evenly on a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes, stirring the mixture every five minutes to ensure an even golden colour.
• Remove from the oven and add tropical fruit and golden raisins. Allow to cool.

Mocha Granola

Preparation: 25 minutes (5 minutes prep, 20 minutes baking)

Yield: 5-6 cups

Ingredients

• 3 cup rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder (not instant coffee granules)
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup pecans, chopped
• 1/2 cup walnuts, halved
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 100g milk chocolate, chopped

Method

• Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F)
• In a large bowl, mix oats, espresso powder, cocoa powder, salt, pecans and walnuts. Heat honey, maple syrup and olive oil until warmed and runny, then pour over dry mix and stir to combine. Spread evenly on a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes, stirring the mixture every five minutes to ensure an even golden colour.
• Remove from the oven and add cranberries and chocolate. Allow to cool. Or add chocolate once cooled if you want to keep the chips from melting.

Cherry Maple Pistachio Granola

Preparation: 25 minutes (5 minutes prep, 20 minutes baking)

Yield: 5-6 cups

Ingredients

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup sweetened dessicated coconut
• 1/3 cup pistachios
• 1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup dried cherries
• 100g dark chocolate (about 1/4 cup chopped)

 Method

• Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F)
• In a large bowl, mix oats, coconut, pistachios, pecans, and salt. Heat maple syrup, vanilla and olive oil until warmed and runny, then pour over dry mix and stir to combine. Spread evenly on a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes, stirring the mixture every five minutes to ensure an even golden colour.
• Remove from the oven and add cherries and chocolate. Allow to cool. Or add chocolate once cooled if you want to keep the chips from melting.

Finally, I brainstormed all of the ingredients I could think of to allow you to pick and choose. Let me know in the comments if I’ve missed any obvious ones out!

Nuts

• Walnuts
• Almonds
• Pecans
• Brazil nuts
• Cashews
• Hazelnuts

Seeds

• Pumpkin
• Pistachio
• Sunflower
• Sesame
• Poppy

Dried Fruit:

• Cranberries
• Apricots
• Banana
• Goji berries
• Sultanas
• Raisins
• Dates
• Figs
• Mango
• Pineapple
• Candied ginger
• Candied citrus peel

Flavour

• Cinnamon
• Peanut butter
• Nutmeg
• Coconut
• Vanilla bean/paste/extract
• Maple syrup
• Honey
• Ginger
• Allspice
• Orange zest
• Chai
• Cardamom

Healthy additions:

• Flax seeds
• Chia seeds

Not so healthy additions

• Chocolate chips
• Cacao nibs
• Toffee pieces 

Changing up the grains:

• Millet
• Amaranth
• Quinoa
• Buckwheat groats

Sweeteners

• Honey
• Maple syrup
• Molasses/Treacle (I'd maybe use 1 tablespoon of molasses/treacle in a gingerbread granola recipe)
• Agave syrup

Binders

• Oil
• Coconut oil
• Peanut butter
• Almond butter

Okay. I'm done.